Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Sails To North America In March

NIS America is bringing Phantom Brave Portable to North America under the name Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle.

This version of Phantom Brave includes the bonus chapter and all of the tweaks from the Wii version plus five extra characters. Hero Prinny and Unlosing Ranger are some of the cameos Nippon Ichi added to the PSP version.

Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle is slated for release this March on UMD and PlayStation Network. Europe is getting the game too, but in PAL territories its PSN only.

P.S. Remember our puzzlenouncement? "A Remade Lighter Hunt" is an anagram for "Hermuda Triangle." The remade part was a clue plus, of course, the picture. Like I said in the comments, it was supposed to be the easiest puzzlenouncement yet.

Ditto. Especially remade/enhanced, since as it’s been said multiple times, the budget and quality for the game itself was pretty subpar. :( It deserves better!

Rarutos

Man, if NISA wants to re-release ports like Phantom Brave, which they had just re-released on the Wii last year, they could totally release the ports of Atelier Judie and Violet which have never been localized before!

Oh well… I suppose it’s easier for them to localize Phantom Brave because they had translated before. I was just really looking forward to playing any pre-Iris games in the Atelier series. :<

PurpleDoom

I would’ve liked to see those as well – at least we’re still getting all the new ones, though.

JustaGenericUser

I still say that NIS should have made a Makai Kingdom remake/port on PSP rather than doing Phantom Brave again. I still have yet to play it, and it would bring new players to the mix as well. It would earn just as many sales as Phantom Brave, if not more.

The story is, by far, a lot more dramatic and heart-touching (and -rending) than the Disgaea series. The first chapter will, above anything else, make you feel so sorry for Marona and what she has to go through, and the charming characters who end up becoming friends with her only add to the feeling of the game itself.

If NIS games were to be ranked by story, Phantom Brave would definitely be near/at the top. The characters probably are by a person’s taste, since they lack the wit or humor of Disgaea games, but they’re wonderful characters in their own right.

I really love how with the puzzlenoucement, everyone, including me for a while, figured “oh, Phantom Brave picture? Can’t be PB PSP, that’s too easy!” and then went on about Tales of Graces F and Persona instead.

I am still pretty glad though that this is coming– I’m gonna get it as soon as it’s released. I own the Wii version, but I still haven’t gone through Corona’s story, and I don’t tend to have the coherency to play on a console anymore if it’s not the one currently hooked up. So at the least, the PSP version will let me finally do that!

Very pissed that this is making it over while La Pucelle: Ragnarok stays in Japan. PB is my absolute least favorite NIS game and I’m not happy that this will now get its third release and second port, both of which added extremely little extra content to the original game. LP: Ragnarok is how a port/remake/enhancement should be done… *cries*

PurpleDoom

Apparently legal issues with Mastiff are what’s prevented that from coming over. Given the fan demand (and that they localize pretty much anything NIS-developed) I’m sure it would have come over had that problem not been in the way…

Has that been honestly confirmed? I’ve heard that constantly from fans but have never heard anything from NISA’s end saying THAT is the reason it can’t be brought over. I’m also very curious as if there were indeed legal issues regarding La Pucelle and NISA, how has Priere appeared as a guest character in all of the Disgaea games made by NISA and Atlus’ original Disgaea release? I’m not at all familiar with copyright and legal issues, but I would think that would be something of an issue if Mastiff did indeed hold rights to the series.

I personally emailed Mastiff a while back to ask them about the rights regarding La Pucelle and whether they might pick up Ragnarok for localization, and they emailed me back something saying that they personally have no interest in doing it themselves, and that its localization lies in NISA’s hands, making me think Mastiff really doesn’t care and is not holding the rights over NISA’s head as I’ve constantly heard.

At this point, it feels like Phantom Brave is a much easier game for them to put out seeing as they’ve already localized it twice before, and honestly not much work probably has to go into it’s release. Whereas with LP:R, NISA has never localized it nor it’s original release, making me think that unless they bought the translation made by Mastiff, they would have to spend a good amount of time localizing the title completely themselves. I’m guessing (again, guessing) that the reason LP:R is not going to get localized is because of the time it would take to do so, and because it probably would sell somewhere around the amount that Phantom Brave’s PSP port will.

I think it’s lazy as they are passing over a much more worthwhile game in my opinion, but I do understand the possible business reasons behind their choice as I know they have been hurting financially recently. A quick cash grab release like Phantom Brave is sure to bring in profit as again, the game has already been localized. Twice.

PurpleDoom

I don’t think that legal issues with Mastiff has been confirmed as the specific reason for the game not being localized, but I do remember hearing that NISA said they weren’t doing it. It is a real shame, though, because I’ve heard nothing but good things about the title.

Yeah, I asked in a PSN blog post for ZHP if there was still any chance of LP:R being localized and actually got an NISA employee to comment on it, saying…

“To answer your question, unfortunately, we don’t have any plans to localize La Pucelle Ragnarok. Our pipeline is pretty full at the moment with some most excellent titles that I think you will be really excited about.

I know it’s a bummer when we choose not to localize a title but I just wanted to let you know that your voice and suggestions are taken seriously by us here at NIS America. Our fans really do have some weight in some of the decisions we make!”

I agree with you in saying that it is indeed a shame. It’s an excellent title and fantastic improvement on the original release which I really adored. I imported it a while back and have really enjoyed it, but since I don’t speak any Japanese and NIS games are known for their great humor and stories, I don’t feel like I’ve gotten the best and/or fullest experience with the title. It’s still a blast just to play as an import, but again, not knowing Japanese makes skills/items/plot lines (everything) really difficult to push through.

nyoron

You’ve made me curious now since I didn’t like the original La Pucelle all that much. I suspect that was in part because I played it shortly after I played Disgaea, which to me made it feel like a step backwards gameplay-wise. So, what kind of improvements did they make?

Yeah, the main reasoning here is the financial points. NISAmerica could probably get La Pucelle if they really tried, or could revoice everything, which is probably part of the issue itself, but it comes down to making sure that there’s demand, and that it will sell to a certain expectation, especially since I’m pretty sure that NIS in general has been iffy about the PSP’s higher pirate rate than other systems.

Really, the best thing anyone can do is to just buy their current releases, since more money for them means more of a chance of them taking perceived risks.

This is in reply to “nyoron” who asked about the differences, for some reason I can’t respond to his/her comment directly.

-Ragnarok has a New Game +, which for La Pucelle is actually a pretty big deal as NIS games didn’t get this (now expected) feature until their later games
-More characters (Disgaea trio, among others)
-DLC with even more new characters (Elie, #2 character I’m not familiar with, Hero Prinny, & Rozalin so far)
-New artwork for certain characters
-Fully voiced
-Multiple game endings/scenarios
-Any one who played the US Mastiff release will probably notice a lot of tiny added things that were censored for us, such as smoking, cross guns, etc.
-General “user friendly” enhancements for battles and such

Honestly if you didn’t enjoy the original and couldn’t get through it, nothing is too ground-breakingly different to possibly change your mind. However for fans of the original, Ragnarok brought it “up to speed” so to say with their other releases (feature wise), while keeping it’s unique battle/gameplay differences from Disgaea and their other series.

nyoron

Thanks for the info, that sounds pretty nice. I did beat the main game at least, I don’t remember doing much post-game though. At the time what I really wanted was a Disgaea 2 and I probably judged the game unfairly. I would definitely give it another shot.

The New Game+ feature is the biggest reason why I want to get Ragnarok, next to the Overlord Priere scenario. I know apparently the European version, and a later Japanese version for the PS2, had the New GAme+ feature, so we got shafted by Mastiff jumping the gun. D:

Also, you forgot to mention that there’s combo special attacks now, and the characters all got at least a new attack each.

Why can’t I reply to people directly…? Anyways, to “Linka”, New Game + for LP:R is really awesome, really makes a big difference and adds a ton to the game. I wasn’t aware that Europe and Japan got releases with that added on the PS2, lucky them.And I did indeed forget to mention the special attacks, sorry. I was trying to remember off the top of my head last night what all the improvements were as it’s been a while since I’ve last played, and I’m sure I glossed over a few. I did remember though that the other DLC character is Colette from Rhapsody, and there was some kind of code you could input on the title screen to unlock the special Prinny instead of doing the DLC. Anyways, very good game, talking about it has kinda made me want to start it up again.Moderator’s note: Because five replies is the maximum thread length. After that discussions get so cluttered they aren’t readable.

It DOES sound awesome– I’m actually considering gritting my teeth and trying to import the game since it isn’t coming– or at least won’t be anytime soon at this point if they do. It’s only $50 on play-asia, and for an import game that isn’t too bad when I can see a lot of them go for $70-$80 sometimes depending on availability.

I just wish that GameFAQs or something had a translation guide up. :(

Joanna

My understanding of copyright law is that what Mastiff has rights to is the name, “La Pucelle” and their translation of said game, but not the game itself. The game and its code belong to the original creators, NIS.

As such, characters from said game aren’t owned by Mastiff, which is why they have appeared in other games and NISA was able to bring them over.
As for Mastiff saying NISA are free to do so; I’m pretty sure NISA would still have to pay Mastiff royalities for copyright use of the name. So, while NISA is technically “free” to localize said game, there is the hidden cost of buying the rights to the name “La Pucelle” from Mastiff. Unless Mastiff feels like being charitable and giving NISA the rights to use the name for free….but I highly doubt a business would do that.

Just putting that out there. :)

edit: gah, got the games mixed up but I fixed it now. It’s pretty late here, gotta go to bed soon. xD

Uh, the Wii release at least for Phantom Brave added a new four-chapter storyline. The “Another Marona” storyline. So the Wii version did at least add in a pretty good amount of new content– the same amount that has been standard with first-time NIS ports. (Disgaea got Etna Mode, Disgaea 2 got Axel Mode, La Pucelle got Overlord Priere Story, and Phantom Brave got Corona).

I agree that the PSP port isn’t adding much to the table, but I’m still happy to have it, since it’s a lot easier for me to play then.

I do agree though that I’m upset that La Pucelle Ragnarok hasn’t left Japan, but it’s been pretty much confirmed that it won’t be localized.

To me personally the added storyline in Phantom Brave didn’t feel like much. I enjoyed Axel Mode, Etna Mode, etc. much more than I did the “Another Marona” storyline, but then again I wasn’t a huge fan of the game in the first place so that might be the reason I saw it that way. To each his own! Maybe I just need to play through it again though, but now that I think about it I never went through (and still don’t even own) Soul Nomad, so I should probably seek that one out first…

Having stuff on-the-go all on one system is indeed very nice, and I love having all of a certain companies games digitally and portably available. I just wish that priorities were set towards other un-localized games first than to rather spend time and marketing doing a title the company has already released twice. I don’t think I would’ve been quite as disappointed/mad to see Phantom Brave for PSP on the release list had LP:R made it out first since NISA has never tackled that game themselves, and I’ve been really eager to see how they would’ve handled the overall translation, characters, storyline, and humor. I think it would’ve turned out fantastically and I believe it’s a shame and a total missed opportunity on their part to turn out something really great. Oh well, can’t win ’em all I guess.

I can not implore more to get Soul Nomad– it’s definitely a bit higher-aimed in maturity than NIS’s general audience, and the Room system takes some gripping onto, but it’s a very good game. I think Soul Nomad was my quickest to finish out of a lot of NIS’s games. Helps probably, too, that Soul Nomad is less of a “grinding” game and more “build the army right” game. Still capable of grinding in the training rooms though and unlocking characters– and even going through the special Demon Path!

Also the characters are great. Soul Nomad puts a lot of emphasis onto the characters, isn’t all of them having their own quirks, their own reasons, and their own things that will make one’s head spin.

In case you can’t tell, I find it very enjoyable. Just be warned: It’s definitely harder than other NIS games– having beaten at least one other game beforehand helps a lot.

Well, you sold me! I’ll most definitely look to snag a copy on eBay or Amazon. I love most of NIS games and I’m all for one that plays differently gameplay wise and has a more mature storyline. I’ve been meaning to pick it up for years but just never got around to it, I’ll be sure to get on it!

If you’re looking to import LP:R as you mentioned above, I think the best deal is on eBay currently (provided you can pay with PayPal). $50 + free express shipping which is not bad at all for any import game. There is sales tax though if you happen to live in California, but it might still turn out to be the cheapest considering you don’t have to pay a shipping fee as you would getting it through PlayAsia. I actually just picked up a copy as a Christmas gift for a friend!

PS: Thanks mod for letting me know about the 5 post threads, I had no idea.

Exkaiser

Hmn, while Phantom Brave was one of my favorite NIS SRPGs, I think I’ll stick to the original.

Though, the Unlosing Ranger is pretty tempting. I like that guy.

Code

rar, I’m still not all that interested in Phantom Brave, I’m actually really surprised out of NIS’s library it’s managed to score 3 versions. rar, I’m more of a Makai Kingdom guy myself, NIS when you decide to give it some Wii/PSP face time give me a call — now that is a game I’d have no problem with owning 3 copies of >w<~!

Ereek

Well, I was on the right track with my “triangle” guess, I suppose! I’m surprised at how obvious this one was.

Code

I think that’s what got to everyone actually xpx; I checked it out but rarr even my detective skills were lost — but then again my focus has been all across the board lately T_T;;

PurpleDoom

I got the triangle part as well, but there was no way I was going to get Hermuda. I’m surprised too… I actually made a point of PBP being “too obvious” and I feel silly now.

Pichi

I’ll be buying it for the extra scenarios and such since I didn’t have a Wii. Hope NISA can maybe get La Pucelle and the other PSP games as well.

Since I haven’t ever played Phantom Brave, I’ll definitely be getting this version.

Extra_Life

Another import then, I’m really not happy with many of the games I’d like to be boxed on the PSP getting PSN only releases here. It’s not a big problem to import, but it often (not always, I’ve had some good deals) means inflated prices from UK sellers, long delivery times, high delivery prices…

Ladius

I admit I’m pissed that this is going to be localized when Antiphona, Atelier Lina, Atelier Judie, Blue Roses and La Pucelle R are still stranded in Japan, but at least NiSA has provided us with many new PSP games in the last months, so this isn’t a porting-galore trend like Atlus USA’s with the Personas and KitN.
I hope NiSA’s 2011 Q1 lineup has other PSP highlights beside PB, however, especially since the localization work is probably little to none.

PurpleDoom

As of right now, Ar tonelico Qoga and Hyperdimension Neptunia are also slated for early 2011. Nice to see the PS3 getting more love.

But hey, there’s already an official announcement, heheh. March, March my lovely Ar Tonelico in March~

Draparde

nice, i knew trading in the wii version when this was announced was the right thing to do!

ZomaNeko

I bought and played the PS2 version and even though I didn’t like it as much as Disgaea, I still liked it a lot. I was on the fence for the wii version, but now I am really glad that I skipped it since I’d much rather play it on the PSP, plus more extras is always very fun for me!